I see Dan Boyle has embarked on a year-long master’s in government and public policy (Irish Examiner).
The course explores the theory behind the Irish political system.
You would think, after 25 years involvement in public affairs, that Mr. Boyle would be an expert on the theory behind the Irish political system.
The theory is as simple as it is deadly for Ireland and its people:
The buying and selling of votes to elect gombeens who travel to Dublin to plunder public funds in order to pay off those who voted for them and lavish favours on all and sundry to ensure re-election.
Here’s Mr. Boyle’s take on Irish political history:
We came out of a period of 70 years of underachievement, followed by 10-years of exuberance and now we’re living through the hangover.
If the Celtic Tiger taught us anything, it was that the Irish could do great things.
Here’s the truth:
We came out of a period of 70 years of a gradual corruption of the political and administrative system followed by ten years of rampant greed and corruption that enriched those in power and their friends.
If the fallout from the Celtic Tiger has taught us anything, it is that nothing has changed, that the same corrupt political/administrative system is still in place and that the suffering of the Irish people is set to continue for some time yet.
Somehow I suspect that even after a year of intensive study Mr. Boyle will still be ignorant of this brutal reality.